Relationship between antigenic type of virus and antibody response in female patients with herpes genitalis.

The antigenic types of virus recovered from genital sites in cases of adult female genital herpes and antibody response in these patients were investigated. Twelve strains were isolated from 23 clinical specimens, and half the number of the isolates was classified as type 1 virus and the remaining half as type 2 virus. The results of serological typing corresponded well to biological differentiation by plaque-forming ability on chick embryo cultures. The patients with type 1 virus infection had only the complement requiring neutralizing antibody, thus indicating a fresh infection. On the other hand, the noncomplement requiring neutralizing antibody was found in the patients with type 2 virus infection, indicating a later phase of infection.